SOUTHBRIDGE — Although their formal quarterly progress report came across with lots of things undone, by the time Eva Mitchell and Nadine Bonda finished, they agreed that Southbridge has indeed made progress toward getting off "Level 4" status.

They were reviewing the last part of the past school year, when the state finally approved the district's Accelerated Improvement Plan. "In that regards, it's progress," Bonda said. "The district was on the right track" and has "put in the foundational steps" necessary to move forward.

The two women, who represent different offices in the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said they believe administrators now know, and are training the teachers in the key things they need to make sure various techniques "begin to inform classroom instruction."

For more on this story, please see tomorrow's Southbridge Evening News.